My Greatest AS Worry: Hail

[John&Vicki]

After three years I find the Airstream experience to be pretty mellow. I know there are things to be concerned about but I try and use the Boy Scout motto and accept and deal with things as they come. There's only one thing I fret about - hail.

I feel fortunate to have bought a very gently used '90 25' Excella. It was used as a guesthouse on an estate in Santa Barbara for many years and shows very little wear and tear. The oven had never been used when we got it (which has come to an end as my wife loves to bake). And the clearcoat is intact and close to perfect.

I work hard at maintenance, particularly the clearcoat. I apply Liquid Glass, an acrylic polymer, twice a year. The trailer is parked inside over the winter but spends the summer outside. Which is where the concern comes from.

I live in Sisters, Oregon, at the base of the Oregon Cascades. Hail is not uncommon here and it appears to have the potential to wreak instant havoc on our aluminum skinned beauties.

Is anyone aware of a defensive measure to protect a trailer exposed to the elements? If possible hail is in the forecast, would it be effective to temporarily place a tarp or other cover of some type over the trailer?

What kind of coverage is provided by insurance? I have an agreed value policy. A trailer remains functional after suffering hail damage but with great dimunition of value. Is that covered?

Thanks for your input.

[JimGolden]

My own trailer came out of FL, and it has hail dents in both end caps. Well, it's got some on the roof as well, but you can't see them. I've thought of calling one of those "paintless dent remover" guys to see if they could do anything with it, but once you stretch the aluminum, you have to shrink the metal. You typically can't just beat the dent out.

I'm not sure what you could put over it. I'm thinking something like carpet foam padding. Just a tarp I don't think would do much. You need something that would actually cushion the blows.

Most of the hail storms I've been in were accompanied by high winds, so you'd need to be able to throw your pad over and tie it down as well. Maybe lay the padding on the end caps and throw a tarp over it that has eyelets that you could run under the trailer and tie it on securely. If you had a little warning, something like that might work.

Best of luck,

[mfrez]

Tagging on because this is a worry of mine as well. In Colorado hail this time of year can almost be a daily risk.

[John&Vicki]

Thanks Jim, good suggestions. I may try to fashion a cover of some kind.

I took this picture a couple blocks from my house and where my trailer is stored. Beautiful mountains but they can deliver some extreme weather.

[MOS]

You guys worry too much . Just enjoy your AS and if something happens then deal with it.

[John&Vicki]

Originally Posted by MOS

You guys worry too much . Just enjoy your AS and if something happens then deal with it.

That is (almost) always my attitude with my trailer, and with my life for that matter. But this one bugs me. We're all entitled to at least a couple of idiosyncracies, right? Maybe I suffer from cryophobia (had that in a crossword a while back).

[jcanavera]

It may be a futile situation in trying to cover your trailer. Quite honestly the odds are you will be hit sometime. The question is how bad the hail is. I've been in one storm that put small dent's in my old Hi-Lo around 1983. Most of them were on the roof out of sight. The Hi-Lo had an aluminum roof over plywood. I was on the road at the time and pulled under a tree to hope to lessen the damage. As it ended up I took a cash settlement from the insurance company and never fixed the damage.

We had a storm up here that hit the Airstream dealer back in April of 2001. Some stones were a big as baseballs and softballs. The lot of new trailers and trailers awaiting service was a shambles. Especially hard hit were the end caps that looked like a basket ball had caved in the corners.

I think there was an WBCCI International Rally up in North or South Dakota that got hit years ago. Millions of dollars of damage up there.

Bottom line it will happen. When and how bad is always up for grabs. If you store your trailer outside, then the odds will be it will happen when you aren't out on the road. Like others have stated, understand your insurance coverage and choose the right carrier. I'm using Progressive and have a modified replacement value policy. When the trailer was new, it would replace the trailer with a current model with same features for the first 5 years. Now it has turned to a stated value policy which has a floor of 70K, no matter the age of the trailer. Won't buy me the same trailer but could take a lot of sting out of a total loss. With the stated value I'm at least assured that any loss probably would be repaired rather than totaled.

Personally I've always felt that the odds of the trailer getting totaled by weather were probably the greatest risk of having any travel trailer. It's also why I'm fortunate to have indoor storage.

Jack

[John&Vicki]

My trailer is stored in a lot for my neighborhood. I think I would be allowed to build a shelter for it. Does anyone have experience with this type?


I notice that they come with aluminum or canvas tops. Any experience with how they fare in winds?

Thanks,
John

[centennialman]

John - For storage at home I bought a Shelter Logic unit from Northern Tool and Equipment. I live in "hail alley" in Colorado and seem to get pummeled every summer. The unit I bought is rated for 95mph winds and 40 pounds per square foot snow load. At least it's protected in my driveway. On the road or in the campground...oh well...life happens!

[AtomicNo13]

We were in South Dakota last year.... the forecast called for grapefruit sized hail every night for a week. It was a heart stopping moment!
we were lucky to get away with just a few very small dimples..... all of which have dissapeared with the heat and cool cycles of the past year.
I have however seen Airstreams with every literal inch covered in dents. I even saw a new smallish Airstream in Yellowstone NP with penetrations to the skin. Dents and damage are all a part of owning a Airstream.
Insurance must include hail damage coverage. Make certain it is worded as such or includes that specific coverage!

[Wayne&Sam]

Last year, on our way to Sisters, we got caught in the biggest hail storm we've encountered. It was on I84 in Utah, where they had permanent signs warning of severe storms, by the way. We pulled over and just accepted the fact that we'd have dents. After the storm passed we continued on to our next stop. When we inspected the trailer, there wasn't a single dent.

So my take is that it takes really big hailstones or extremely high winds to cause damage. Driving at any speed would no doubt exasperate the problem.

That being said, we have run of the mill thunderstorms predicted for the weekend so I'm not taking the FC out of the barn yet!

[Foiled Again]

The US Army now uses what I'd describe as an inflatable quonset hut to house troops for medium to long term. And the really nice thing is that can be assembled in 20 foot sections - unlimited length. I've thought of looking into something like that, but the key question (after cost) would be HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO INFLATE? If money weren't an object I'd say you need something like an inflatable life raft inverted over the top of your Airstream - with tiedowns and heavy nylon net sides so the air can pass through but the boat stays in place and the hail that wants to hit the sides is deflected.

With hail you sometimes have just a minute or two to get under cover or get hit. And while hail generally comes straight down - in a bad storm I've seen it destroy one side of a wooden building while daisies planted on the opposite side were undamaged.

I've hung out under an overpass for 10 minutes - thinking I'd already been dinged but could at least protect the skylights. Got lucky, not a mark.

OTOH - I heard and saw the weather report of hail in Texas that was so bad people who were hiding IN their cars had to get out as the glass shattered and hide UNDER them. A few people in a park got under wooden picnic tables which were almost demolished to splinters by the time the record long term hail ended. No one died in that one, but there were broken bones and severe cuts and bruises.

[Wayne&Sam]

Originally Posted by Foiled Again

The US Army now uses what I'd describe as an inflatable quonset hut to house troops for medium to long term. And the really nice thing is that can be assembled in 20 foot sections - unlimited length. I've thought of looking into something like that, but the key question (after cost) would be HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO INFLATE? If money weren't an object I'd say you need something like an inflatable life raft inverted over the top of your Airstream - with tiedowns and heavy nylon net sides so the air can pass through but the boat stays in place and the hail that wants to hit the sides is deflected.

With hail you sometimes have just a minute or two to get under cover or get hit. And while hail generally comes straight down - in a bad storm I've seen it destroy one side of a wooden building while daisies planted on the opposite side were undamaged.

I've hung out under an overpass for 10 minutes - thinking I'd already been dinged but could at least protect the skylights. Got lucky, not a mark.

OTOH - I heard and saw the weather report of hail in Texas that was so bad people who were hiding IN their cars had to get out as the glass shattered and hide UNDER them. A few people in a park got under wooden picnic tables which were almost demolished to splinters by the time the record long term hail ended. No one died in that one, but there were broken bones and severe cuts and bruises.

I hate when that happens.

[kdickinson]

Best option is to store it under cover. But then when you actually use the trailer it is exposed. It's a risk we accept. My AS is a one family trailer and we've used for nearly 50 years and the worst thing that happened was a low flying duck (yes really) hit the front curb side panel and dented it in pretty good. It is fixed now with a replacement panel. For me it's not a rolling museum it's a trailer and will earn wear and tear by being used for what it was built for.

[r.skalsky]

I was told to never cover your AS, except with a roof over it.

[Zybane]

I'm definitely a Benjamin kind of guy: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Although, with the hail problem, short of putting the trailer under some other freestanding structure, I am not sure there is much you can do about the possibility of hail damage. The only thing I could come up with is layering a couple of inches of foam on the top and tying it down with bungee cords. The foam is also soft enough that it won't damage the protective coating on the aluminum like a tarp will.

[clydecrashcu]

Originally Posted by kdickinson

Best option is to store it under cover. But then when you actually use the trailer it is exposed. It's a risk we accept. My AS is a one family trailer and we've used for nearly 50 years and the worst thing that happened was a low flying duck (yes really) hit the front curb side panel and dented it in pretty good. It is fixed now with a replacement panel. For me it's not a rolling museum it's a trailer and will earn wear and tear by being used for what it was built for.

Yep, ducks, big birds happen. Same occurance a couple of years ago. Also have hail damage, don't like dents but still useful to camp in. Don't enter best looking AS competition any more. . I do house mine at home in a pole barn with Strong Barn corrugated steel. Hail dents obviously happen. Love to camp in trailer no longer in tent.

[franklyfrank]

Originally Posted by MOS

You guys worry too much . Just enjoy your AS and if something happens then deal with it.

With every year that passes owning our 2013 30' International I worry less and less. I began to realize that having all these anxieties over it wanted me to get rid of it. Thankfully I began to realize the futility of avoiding all perils big and small and now that I accumulated some minor dents, nicks and scratches I stopped worrying. The trailer is just as enjoyable with them as without them.

[Jacob D]

Originally Posted by kdickinson

Best option is to store it under cover. But then when you actually use the trailer it is exposed. It's a risk we accept. My AS is a one family trailer and we've used for nearly 50 years and the worst thing that happened was a low flying duck (yes really) hit the front curb side panel and dented it in pretty good. It is fixed now with a replacement panel. For me it's not a rolling museum it's a trailer and will earn wear and tear by being used r what it was built for.

Ditto regarding our '67 Overlander. Always stored outside, weathered at least 4 hail storms with up to silver dollar sized hail, no dents except one caused by a bicycle and a couple under the front caused by rocks. Water leaks? Now that is a different subject.

[Grosspoluter]

My 345 motor home is pretty beat up hail dents, regular dents, probably 1/4 of the clear coat gone
It's a "catch 22" I do kind of wish it was smooth and had a nice mat Finnish...
But then I think I'd be living in fear of damage, not to mention I probably couldn't have afforded it in the first place (it was $10,000 not the $30000 - $40000 ya see the nice shiny ones going for)
I agree just try to enjoy it!
I Owen a 1967 ford wagon and I've been with people who see another guy cruising in his old car and they say "look at that lucky guy cruising down the highway in his classic without a care in the world"
I'm sure people who see me cruising in my motor home think the same thing. But if they could read my mind they would hear me thinking...
"Did I just hear a knock? What was that noise? Why is that inside dual 5* warmer then the outside? Did I just see the oil pressure gauge fluctuate? I really should try to get that rear window seal fixed better, and buddy in the car in front of me who just cut me off... You have WAY more faith in my breaks then I do!"
I see the dents, scratches, and duct tape as battel scars!
And I have to admit I'm hoping for a little severe weather to come my way so I can tell my insurance company that cracked windshield happen in a storm and not before I bought it
As for a tarp I agree I don't think it would be much help, I've ran for cover in a hail storm in a hat and light coat and was amazed how much it hurt